Archive for the ‘Ed Ramirez’ tag

While discussing the 376 mpg Opel with collector Myron Vernis (of Powell wagon and Jagdwagen fame here on the Hemmings blog), he brought up the topic of the Amectran EXAR-1 electric sports car that shared a similar story of alleged conspiracy by Big Oil and major automotive manufacturers to keep the car from ever realizing production. In Myron’s words:

Conspiracy? Maybe, but the good news is that the developer is still around, not incarcerated and in contact with me.

There was only one EXAR-1 ever made and it was rooted in a BMW prototype. BMW commissioned Frua to do the 3.0Si concept for debut at the ’75 Turin Auto Show. Frua’s internal project number for the car was 374. A few years later, Frua somehow reacquired the car from BMW. Ramirez hasn’t yet told me how or why he contacted Frua during the EXAR development, but the bottom line is that Frua slightly redesigned the front of the car to accommodate the electric motor and electronic controls and then shipped it to Ramirez in Texas. Frua’s project number for the EXAR was 374-2E (makes sense) and it was the last completed project to come out of his shop before he fell ill and eventually passed away. The production cars were intended to be Kevlar-bodied copies taken from molds of this car, but Amectran never got that far.

Was it a scam or a conspiracy? I don’t know for sure but Ed Ramirez is pretty convincing when he talks about it and the fact is that that the Secretaries of Commerce and the DOT were in his corner. Regardless, it’s a great story and an important footnote in automotive history. It is also especially timely today when alternative powered cars are all the rage. Whether it could have ever been successfully produced, the prototype EXAR-1 showed the world thirty years ago that you could a modern, beautiful, comfortable and useful “electronic” automobile.

The car was in perfect condition when the feds seized it in ’93. It was sold at government auction in ’97 and subsequently tragically cannibalized and abused (someone even tried to add a 944 body kit. Fortunately, the Frua archives in Germany has the original blueprints and the BMW Zentrum has expressed some interest in helping. My goal is to get it back to its original glory and have it placed in a highly visible museum, not necessarily in that order. Unlike the 376mpg Opel, it will never be sold again. I also think the Amectran story would be fun to bring forward. Ed Ramirez is alive and well, lots of fun to speak with and you can literally feel his passion for the car and the project. When I told him that I had a factory poster of the car hanging in my offices, he almost became speechless.

The good news is that most of the original body is under the mods and the car is truly rust-free. Better yet, the original Frua build tag is still intact.

As with all these lost (and now found) parts of history, you have to wonder what could have been, especially if Ramirez had the sort of backing and publicity that the Tesla is currently enjoying.

Oh, and whoever put that body kit on it should be stoned. Or, probably, was at the time.